undiscovered treasure
Because the American singer-guitarist Rich DePaolo released his eleven song debut himself in 2003, it did not ring any bells here, although he has built a solid reputation in his hometown Ithaca by playing with others and producing them.
After the only 48 seconds long, but depressing sound collage ‘One gun salute’, with which his album opens, DePaolo impressionistically recalls the assault on flight PanAm 103 in 1988 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. He makes that huge tragedy poignant by his personal, pessimistic point of view.
Striking too is the solemn melody, supported by his clear guitar lines, his intense solo and his flawless, dubbed-in close harmony. His song is layered and full of unexpected details, by which it stretches the singer-songwriter genre.
That also goes for the nine songs that follow, in which DePaolo plays inpredictable, yet logically rounded melodies on a vast array of richly sounding guitars and basses, while he sings as if his life depends on it in a transparent production.
Space is one of the elements that determine the expressiveness of his ballads and medium-tempo songs, in ‘Shoots’ threatening atmosphere of Bill King’s drums, Mike Ricciardi’s percussion, Robbie Aceto’s guitar loops and his own ominous guitars just as well as in ‘Doubt’, which is based on a strong guitar riff and larded with biblical symbolism.
DePaolo already proved in 2003 what he confirmed this year on ‘Killed for kings’, his second solo album: he is an uncommonly original songwriter, an unusually good guitar and bass player, an exceptionally emotional singer and an extremely talented producer. Too bad he has been such a well-kept secret for so long.
****
Ruud Heijjer